I Shall Wear Midnight (Discworld) (urspr publ 2010; utgåvan 2010)

As Tiffany settles into her job a new menace appears. The ghost of a witch finder is able to stir up ancient fears and Tiffany must confront it and kill it before it possesses her. ( )

Reliable. Entertaining, thoughtful, charming and full of human kindness and humour. Just what I wanted. ( )

Tiffany Aching is growing up and becoming more and more confident in being a witch with her own steading. In this episode she takes on her regular duties as healer, encourager, shamer and cheesemaker on the one hand while repelling an ancient horror with the other. There's some romance in here too. ( )

I Shall Wear Midnight - Pratchett
Audio performance by Steven Briggs
3.5 stars

Tiffany Aching continues to grow-up. She’s an excessively overworked young witch with her own territory. This book heads into some serious adult topics; domestic abuse, a very young unwed mother, and serious witchbaiting. Tiffany and her band of Feegles are fighting real world darkness. As real as darkness gets on the discworld. Tiffany even spends some time (behind bars) in Ankh-Morpork with a few cameo appearances of characters from the Watch. Lots of Pratchett humor, sturdy feminism and strong themes of social justice. Just how do good people turn against their neighbors to throw the first rock? ( )

I had a hard time getting into this book. The opening is *depressing* -- drunken abuse, children dying, the burdens of being sole caregiver to a large community.

By the end of it I was put out that none of that depressing opening mattered in the slightest in terms of the actual plot. It pains me to say it, having been a Pratchett fan since The Light Fantastic, but this book is a self-indulgent mess from start to finish. File under "how to pad your plot - badly." It meandered in setting for no apparent reason other than to give a dozen characters from other Discworld stream a cameo. None of them ended up doing anything significant. The plot was far too easily resolved and entirely lacking in emotional impact. It doesn't seem like Tiffany has any lessons left to learn. The "villain" was barely present, and the supporting cast mostly acted like idiots.

The Wee Free Men is a nearly perfect book. He should have stopped there. ( )